Talented San Francisco Giants Pitcher Dubbed Young Rising Star for 2025

The San Francisco Giants are in the process of trying to piece together a starting rotation that can lift the club to success behind their established ace Logan Webb.

With the departure of Blake Snell, the Giants no longer have an elite arm to pair with Webb, so the team faces an uphill battle to match the overall production that last year's group of starters produced.

New president of baseball operations Buster Posey made a splash this offseason when he added Justin Verlander in free agency to hold down one of the spots, and another veteran in Robbie Ray figures to be a key part of the team's plans.

Things get more complicated behind those three, with converted reliever Jordan Hicks and youngster Kyle Harrison currently penciled into the four and five spots in the rotation.

One option to start games for San Francisco in 2025, and perhaps to do so effectively, is young righty Hayden Birdsong.

The 23-year-old made 16 starts in 2024 to the tune of a pedestrian 4.75 ERA, but he flashed some tantalizing upside along the way.

In an MLB.com article listing 10 young stars primed to break out in 2025, Birdsong was one of the candidates.

"Six games into his big league career, he had 27 whiffs against the Rockies on July 21, the second-most for an individual pitching performance in 2024 and the most for a rookie in a single game since pitch tracking began in 2008," Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru wrote. "He had 12 strikeouts, which is all well and good for one day’s work, but that guy showed up again a couple of months later when he struck out 11 Cardinals in just 4 1/3 IP."

In looking at Birdsong's Baseball Savant data, it's no wonder he's able to strike out so many hitters.

His whiff and strikeout percentage are in the 82nd and 83rd percentile, respectively, and he spins his curveball at an average of 2,868 rpm.

That makes it an elite offering, and it baffled hitters all year, holding them to a .145 batting average against with a 32.7% rate.

His slider was even tougher for batters to locate, with batters swinging and missing at a 48.7% clip.

Birdsong threw both his curveball and slider at about 18% of the time each, so upping those frequencies could be the key to unlocking better overall results for the young pitcher.

With question marks for the Giants in their rotation, Birdsong could be a featured part of this group and turn into a breakout star this season.

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